WHAT IS LEADERSHIP?Leadership is an interactive conversation that pulls people toward becoming comfortable with the language of personal responsibility and commitment.

LEADERSHIP TIPS“The crux of leadership development that works is self-directed learning: intentionally developing or strengthening an aspect of who you are or who you want to be, or both.” Primal Leadership by Daniel Goleman, Richard Boyatzis & Annie McKee (Harvard Business School Press)

Character Lessons

In essence, our behavior is a product of our genetic makeup and basic human nature filtered and honed through the environments, experiences and relationships that form our life journey. Together, these factors--governed by both our nature and the nurturing we receive--help shape the belief system and moral habits that form our character, and in turn, trigger the habitual behaviors that express it.

More than ever, regulators are pushing to hold CEOs accountable for misconduct happening on their watch. Could this be the wakeup call we need to start measuring how the character of a leader impacts their organization's performance?

If it is, we now have the ability to measure it. In RETURN ON CHARACTER, Fred Kiel, Ph.D., uncovers original hard data from a first-of-its-kind major study to show how CEO character impacts the bottom line, reduces risk, and engages the workforce.

By uncovering how (and if) the CEO understands his or her life story, this study reveals how these leaders' life journeys shaped their moral beliefs and worldviews, and how those factors then influenced their guiding principles and character habits as leaders.

The groundbreaking findings in RETURN ON CHARACTERare a timely antidote to the character shortcomings that are increasingly making headlines today. Four key character habits lead to specific positive business outcomes: Integrity leads to Confidence in Management, Compassion leads to Collaboration, Forgiveness leads to Innovation, and Responsibility leads to a Culture of Accountability.

For the first time, there is data showing a surprising clear connection between character and financial performance. High character CEOs delivered nearly 5 times greater bottom-line results, reduced risk, and significantly engaged the workforce more than did the weak character CEOs. Another significant finding the data uncovered is that character--as reflected in how you treat other people--is a set of habits that anyone can adopt and adapt.

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In essence, our behavior is a product of our genetic makeup and basic human nature filtered and honed through the environments, experiences and relationships that form our life journey. Together, these factors--governed by both our nature and the nurturing we receive--help shape the belief system and moral habits that form our character, and in turn, trigger the habitual behaviors that express it.

More than ever, regulators are pushing to hold CEOs accountable for misconduct happening on their watch. Could this be the wakeup call we need to start measuring how the character of a leader impacts their organization's performance?

If it is, we now have the ability to measure it. In RETURN ON CHARACTER, Fred Kiel, Ph.D., uncovers original hard data from a first-of-its-kind major study to show how CEO character impacts the bottom line, reduces risk, and engages the workforce.

By uncovering how (and if) the CEO understands his or her life story, this study reveals how these leaders' life journeys shaped their moral beliefs and worldviews, and how those factors then influenced their guiding principles and character habits as leaders.

The groundbreaking findings in RETURN ON CHARACTERare a timely antidote to the character shortcomings that are increasingly making headlines today. Four key character habits lead to specific positive business outcomes: Integrity leads to Confidence in Management, Compassion leads to Collaboration, Forgiveness leads to Innovation, and Responsibility leads to a Culture of Accountability.

For the first time, there is data showing a surprising clear connection between character and financial performance. High character CEOs delivered nearly 5 times greater bottom-line results, reduced risk, and significantly engaged the workforce more than did the weak character CEOs. Another significant finding the data uncovered is that character--as reflected in how you treat other people--is a set of habits that anyone can adopt and adapt.